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Top Five Bloomberg BNA Energy and Climate Report Stories for the Week Ending Nov. 7

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT BLOG

Nov 10, 2014 / by

TOP FIVE BLOOMBERG BNA ENERGY AND CLIMATE REPORT STORIES FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOV. 7

Risks to
national security posed by a wind farm planned in Maryland was the most read
Bloomberg BNA Energy and Climate Report story for the week ending Nov. 7.
Coming in second was a story on how the Republican takeover of the Senate may
revive bills opposed by Democrats. The third top story concerned the Environmental
Protection Agency’s response to a court challenge over the regulation of
greenhouse gases, followed by how the Senate is likely to focus on reversing
EPA regulations and options the agency has put forth for states to comply with proposed
carbon standards for power plants.

As covered in this story,
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work told another federal official in an
Oct. 30 letter that a planned 150-megawatt land-based wind farm in Maryland
“would constitute an unacceptable risk” to national security because it could
interfere with operations at Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, which is 30 miles away across the Chesapeake Bay.

The letter doesn't represent a final determination on
whether the Great Bay Wind Energy Center will be cleared to move forward.

The correspondence was addressed to Transportation Secretary
Anthony Foxx in connection with the Federal Aviation Administration's pending “aeronautical
study” of the proposed wind farm, one of several reviews required for the
project.

2. Senate Republicans
May Seek to Revive Blocked Bills With Reid Out of Majority Post

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who shepherded
some big bills like the Affordable Care Act into law during his tenure, also
has been adept at burying legislation he doesn't like, according to this story.

Reid used his absolute control over the Senate floor agenda
to prevent a nuclear waste dump in Nevada, protect the 2010 Dodd-Frank
financial regulatory law and stymie the Keystone XL pipeline. What comes up,
and whether or not it is subject to amendment—there are a lot of tools he has
to block things,” said a former majority leader, Republican Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

A number of measures might have a chance of enactment once
Reid is no longer the floor leader.

As detailed in this story,
a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the scope of the EPA’s greenhouse gas
permitting program has no bearing on how those requirements apply to states,
the agency told a federal appellate court.

The EPA as well as Connecticut and environmental groups
asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to deny
petitions from Texas, Wyoming and utilities seeking rehearing in lawsuits
challenging rules that require states to update air pollution plans to address
greenhouse gases, according to responses filed Nov. 5.

“There simply is no need for the court to rehear this issue
merely to issue a new ruling with fine-tuned language that reflects the Supreme
Court's ruling, and petitioners offer no reason why the court would need to
rehear an issue on which all parties agree,” the EPA said in its response.

As covered in this story,
Republican control of the Senate means Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the
chamber's leading skeptics regarding the human role in climate change, will
lead the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

With Inhofe as chairman, the committee's focus is expected
to depart sharply from the focus that current Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
has put on climate change and other environmental safeguards, to oversight of
the EPA and a raft of agency regulations that Inhofe has criticized regularly,
according to current and former Republican committee staff members.

“It's going to be EPA front and center, right out of the
block,” Marc Morano, a former committee aide who worked under Inhofe, told
Bloomberg BNA. “I would expect many hearings on the impact and the science
behind the EPA's climate regulations.”

5. EPA Outlines Options for State Conversions of
Carbon Emissions Rates for Power Plants

As detailed in this story,
the EPA has offered states two options for converting the proposed rate-based
carbon dioxide emissions standards for existing power plants into mass-based
standards for the purposes of emissions trading programs.

States will be able to develop a mass-based emissions
standard by multiplying the EPA's proposed rate-based standard by electricity
generation, according to a technical support document. The guidance offers
states two options for quantifying the level of generation with examples of how
to calculate each.

“This means that the only variable in the equation is
generation,” the EPA said. “There are many ways to calculate generation, and
the Clean Power Plan provides states, areas of Indian country and territories
with the flexibility to identify an approach that best fits their situation.”

Need even more, sign up for a free trial to the Environment & Safety Resource Center, you’ll have access to a comprehensive source for environment news, analysis, legal and regulatory developments, and critical case law.

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